Care of gouges, skews, etc.

[John Torchick]

I'm new at this game so I have a question that came up while practicing turning a piece of pecan. (Actually, looks pretty decent.) My question is what is the proper way to care for your tools? This is what I have done: Wehn I first got my tool set, I cleaned them and put a light coat of oil in them. When I was ready to use them, I cleaned the ends with denatured alcohol to remove the oil. Today, while turning I got a bit of "stuff" (probbly a bit os sap) on the edge of the gouge and skew. I used a cloth with alcohol to clean, lightly touched up the edge with a fine stone, wiped off the residue with a clean cloth. After I was done, I cleaned the edges and put on a light coat of oil. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[john lucas]

All I ever do is sharpen them using a grinder with a White wheel. I've never cleaned them or wiped them with oil. My tools are all High Speed Steel except for some of the newer ones which are made from the particle metal. I've never had any problems with any of them rusting and I turn some woods that will start rusting my lathe bed almost immediately.
If you go the the thread on the main board about what do you do the maintain the lathe bed you will find some good answers. Most just wipe it down with WD-40 and that includes me.

 

[Mike Peace]

At an all day demo I attended, John Jordan explained the importance of dipping your turning tools in a can of water to rinse off the wood shavings and sap goo before sharpening on the grinder. Works for me.

I don't wipe off or use WD40. Sometimes I hit em with a brush before putting in my tool rack when they are loaded up with dust or shavings.

 

[LHauch]

Hi John,

My "shop" is a corner of an unheated, relatively drafty garage. Here in the Pacific NW, the humidity will get down to about 20% four or five days a year, and during the winter, seldom get below 70%. That said, I do not put anything on my tools to protect them from rust.
I keep a rag around for wiping off accumulated shavings before touching up my tools on the grinder if there is a significant amount. If I know I'll be stopping soon, I may wipe them off before putting them away for the day, but I don't do that very often.
I have about 10 bowl and spindle gouges that I picked up back in 2006, when I started turning and have had absolutely no rust on any of them. None of the rest of my 20+ gouges, skews, parting or hollowing tools have had any rust on them either.
I saw a bit of rust on the threads of my Oneway live center about a week ago, which I quickly hit with the Boeshield products (rust remover and T9.) Of my turning tools, this is the only thing that has ever developed rust.

I clean the ways after ever turning session (yep, it's a pain to spend 30 minutes vacuuming every day, but it keeps SWMBO happy) and do not have a problem.

I would avoid using any type of oil near the cutting edges, heal or bevel, as you don't want to burnish in WD-40 or other oil that is not made as a finish.

Happy turning!

 

[Angelo]

At an all day demo I attended, John Jordan explained the importance of dipping your turning tools in a can of water to rinse off the wood shavings and sap goo before sharpening on the grinder. Works for me.

Melvyn Firmager espouses the same practice. Especially when turning green wood

A

 

[Steve Worcester]

You're supposed to clean them?
I only clean them if there is a bunch of goo, but I don't turn a lot of green wood anymore.

I personally would not oil them because I don't want it to foul any finish adhesion. If you only finish with oil products, it would be fine.

 

[John Torchick]

Cleaning your tools

Steve, I'm aware of what you say. I build custom fishing rods and anything can cause the wrap epoxy to go KaPooey! in a second. I use a lot of denatured alcohol for rodbuilding and for wiping my tools before turning. I was around manufacturing for many years and metal tooling was oiled or greased before storing, then thoroughly cleaned before being put into use. Just followed the practice to keep metal from rusting.